3 dead, 7 missing as boat carrying 18 from Bihar to Jharkhand capsizes in Ganga

KATIHAR: Three people, including a one-year-old child, were drowned to death and seven others are reported to be missing after a small country boat carrying 18 people from Bihar’s Katihar to Jharkhand’s Sahebganj capsized in River Ganga on Sunday morning, officials said, adding that eight people managed to swim to safety.

A team of state disaster response force (SDRF) and local divers have been pressed into service to rescue the missing people.

“Right now, we can’t say anything, but the death toll is likely to go up as search operation has not yet yielded any result,” said an officer monitoring the rescue operation.

Sub-divisional officer (SDO) Kumar Siddharth said that the boat was overloaded with 18 people on board. They were going to attend the shradh of a relative in Jharkhand.

“The victims were of a large extended family, and they were on way to Sahebganj in Jharkhand from Meghu Tola of Amdabad in Katihar when the boat capsized in the Ganga River,” the SDO said.

“Three bodies, including two adults and one child, have been fished out and a search operation is on to trace the missing people,” he added.

The deceased have been identified as 70-year-old Sudhir Mandal and 60-year-old Pawan Kumar, besides the one-year-old girl child-- all residents of Meghu Tola Katihar.